Burning Issues

Sustainability and Management of Australia's Southern Forests

By: Mark Adams, Peter Attiwill

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Paperback | 15 March 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
158 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
24.41 x 16.99 x 1.09

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Southern Australia is one of the three most fire-prone areas on Earth. After more than a century of urban growth and valiant efforts to tame the bush, recent decades have seen more people moving back onto the fringe or into the middle of this volatile landscape. As this movement has intensified, so has the debate on how to best protect life and property from the ever-present bushfire threat. A long-running drought and a predicted warming climate have ensured that bushfire is a dominant factor in the nation's long-term planning.

Following the tragic Victorian Black Saturday fires in 2009, a much greater urgency now confronts policy makers, land and fire managers and communities living in bushfire areas. This has led to a call for a single, simple answer on fuel reduction burning to reduce the bushfire risk. Burning Issues explains that this is a complex issue without such a simple answer.

The book gives an account of the role of fire in Australia's ecosystems, how they have to accept and live with fire, and how they can manage fire both for safety and for diversity. It will change people's attitudes to fire and will be influential in encouraging changes in land management by government agencies.

Industry Reviews

"This book will obviously be a useful source of information to anyone living in southern Australia and to those making decisions there. But it makes a superb case study for northern hemisphere ecologists and highlights the need to include social and political considerations into solving ecological problems."
Peter Thomas, Bulletin of the British Ecological Society 2011, 42 (4)

"The authors have written a book for Australians, based on Australian data and case studies. However, the issues addressed and the principles established are of much wider interest and application. The authors have succeeded in putting across a forceful message that fire in natural environments should be proactively managed.

The literature covered, data presented and their interpretation of these data are unique and interesting. The book should form compulsory reading for politicians responsible for environmental decisions relating to fire, officials in government departments responsible for managing land and environments, land managers, scientists and students across the world. The book is written in an easily readable style and is likely to be popular with the members of the general public who are interested in or affected by fire."
Kevin Kirkman, African Journal of Range & Forage Science 2011 28(3)

"... will surely become essential reading for anyone involved in fire or forest management."
Nick Goldie, Cooma-Monaro Express, 11 October 2011, p. 8

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